Washington Bureau Blog

Pelosi to married gays: 'Right now, our agenda is jobs'

Shortly before Maine became the fifth state to allow its same-sex couples to marry, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today danced around a question about whether Congress should change federal law so that those couples receive federal benefits.

Pelosi, a marriage supporter, said the Houseââ,¬â"¢s agenda is "jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs." A 1996 law passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton bans federal benefits from married same-sex couples.

Hereââ,¬â"¢s the exchange at the speakerââ,¬â"¢s press conference:

Question: "On the issue of same sex marriage, four states now have allowed their same sex couples to marry; and yet under federal law, as you know, those marriages are not recognized. Does Congress need to repeal that part of DOMA? And if so, when?"

Pelosi: "(A) number of states have passed laws. We in California are waiting for the Supreme Court decision on the initiative that tried to overturn a law in California.

"The District of Columbia has said it would recognize marriages in states where they are legal. I don't think the Congress should intervene there in terms of their recognition of marriages in the states that allow them, any more than we did when New York made a similar declaration that they would recognize marriages."

Question: "In terms of federal benefits and that part of DOMA? I mean, these are four states that have --"

Pelosi: "Right now on our agenda we're talking about turning the economy around, dealing with an energy policy, health care for all Americans; education is the third pillar. We have an economic crisis of a magnitude that none of us has seen in our lifetime that we have to deal with.

"At the same time, we have a human rights, civil rights agenda of course. We passed the hate crimes bill last week. We were very proud of the big, strong numbers. It was a 74 vote margin; actually it was 249 to 175. I watched that bill very closely; it was very important to me. And, again, it was all inclusive in terms of hate crimes.

"Members will make a priority of issues like gays in the military, and where we have prospects of success, we always want to expand to a place of more opportunity and more freedom for all Americans.

"But right now our agenda is jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, and as we move on that front, concurrently, we have to make some decisions about what is possible in our values based initiatives as well."

The other states allowing same-sex marriage are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Iowa. Michigan is among states that passed a constitutional ban against same-sex marriages.